ATO identifies miscreant tax agents
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has identified around 1,600 tax agents who it believes are responsible for the majority of its problems with respect to late returns.
The issue has been highlighted by the Commissioner for Taxation, Michael D'Ascenzo, who has told an accountancy forum that some tax agents are doing a much better job of ensuring their clients are covered than others.
He said there were around 21,000 agents lodging around 11.5 million 2010 financial year income tax returns, but "a small minority of tax agents are associated with a significant level of non compliance by clients".
D'Ascenzo said that around 1,600 tax agents represented half the taxpayers who use agents and had outstanding returns, while 1,900 tax agents represent 50 per cent of the taxpayers who were significantly outside the small business benchmarks.
The Tax Commissioner also claimed 1,600 agents (with more than 100 clients) were identified as having an unusually high level of claims for work-related expenses.
"Many of these agents fall within two or three of these categories," he said. "We want to understand how we can better support tax agents generally so that you can positively influence the behaviours of your clients."
AUTHOR
Mike Taylor
Recommended for you
The financial advice sector has benefited from a net rise of 11 advisers this week, according to Wealth Data, while AMP Group reports losses as several advisers open their own licensees.
Praemium has updated on the progress of its integration with platform OneVue, which it acquired from Iress earlier this year.
ASIC leadership has waded into the political debate about Qantas flight upgrades, confirming its executives hold membership of the Chairman’s Lounge but denying it affects their regulatory ability.
Perth advisory firm Capital Partners Private Wealth Advisers has announced a new managing director to take over from David Andrew as he steps down after 25 years.
